Friday, November 02, 2007

Spend any time with a playgoer from the Bay Area or Pacific Northwest, and just count the minutes before they mention Marco Barricelli. A former member of the permanent acting company at ACT, and a frequent Oregon Shakes star, I have heard Barricelli described as the finest American classical stage actor not known in NY (even though he lives here!), a generous man of the theatre, and also, "hot." I've never even seen the guy and I already admire him.

Well good news to Marco fans--he's recently been named the new AD of Shakespeare Santa Cruz. So, welcome him back home. For the rest of us, we have a new stop on our theatre tours of "No-Cal."

Posted by
G. Playgoer

4 comments:

A shout out in support of a West Coast icon. I saw Marco's Hamlet at Oregon Shakes, and I saw an awesome outdoors "Midsummer" at Shakespeare Santa Cruz many years ago. Can an American Theatre profile be far away?

I've known Marco since the early 70s (in his pre-Juilliard days), and even cast him in some of his first one-acts at Cal State Fullerton.

To this day, he remains a nice guy, smart as a whip, and extremely talented. (One caveat, though; try as he might, he can't sing in close harmony.)

Santa Cruz is lucky to have him. A few years ago at a seminar at ACT, Marco mentioned how rare it was for theatre boards to get input from actors, and I look forward to what he does as an AD with an acting background. I also hope it doesn't restrict his time on stage, as he's always great to watch.

It is such a pleasure to read about the excitement generated by our selection of Marco as our incoming AD. We are thrilled to have him and are already planning the 2008 season under his creative direction (and, yes, he is acting!). Just wanted to provide the correct web address so you can stay tuned: http://www.shakespearesantacruz.org/